Jiraiya froze.
Tsunade was equally stunned.
Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko approached slowly with slightly restrained expressions, carrying the basket of fruit.
Especially Nagato. It was because of him that Jiraiya had been gravely injured, lying in this hospital bed and being scolded mercilessly by Tsunade.
"Jiraiya-sensei. Lady Tsunade." Nagato and Konan bowed their heads politely in greeting.
Jiraiya's expression stiffened. Tsunade frowned slightly and looked at Naruto.
"What is going on, Naruto?"
What she was really asking was why Nagato and Konan were here.
"Senior Brother Nagato and Senior Sister Konan both seek peace. Their ideals went astray before, but after my guidance, they are now on the same path as us," Naruto said, patting his chest confidently.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow. The same path?
The path of Naruto's grand unification plan?
"I am sorry, Jiraiya-sensei. I almost killed you before." Nagato's delicate face was filled with guilt. He was no longer trapped in pain and hatred. He had returned to his former self.
He bowed deeply.
Konan followed and bowed as well.
Yahiko stood there blankly, unmoving.
Jiraiya looked at the three of them, emotions surging in his chest.
His gaze moved with difficulty from Yahiko's lifeless puppet body to Nagato's healthy face.
When those clear Rinnegan eyes met his, his chest tightened painfully.
That was no longer the hollow "god" of the Rain Village sewers.
That was the red-haired boy who had once trembled in the ruins of war and grabbed his clothes.
A choked sound escaped his throat.
Nagato and Konan remained bent at ninety degrees. The faint scent of oranges mixed with disinfectant drifted into his nose.
"You…"
The phantom pain in his bandaged arm twitched. All the grief, guilt, and doubt tangled in his chest, finally turning into a heavy sigh.
"Get up."
Tsunade caught the trembling of his eyelids. That was not anger. It was something deeper.
Not resentment at betrayal, but the dull pain of a sower watching his seedlings grow into thorns, then seeing those thorns torn out by the roots.
"Sensei." Nagato straightened, eyes red. "I twisted Yahiko's dream into something ugly."
Konan clenched the wrapping paper around the flowers. Pale paper butterflies slipped from the basket, just like the soaked paper flowers from their farewell years ago.
Jiraiya suddenly tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"You idiot," he said hoarsely.
In Nagato's shocked gaze, Jiraiya's bandaged hand pressed firmly onto his red hair, pushing him down toward the bed.
"Apologies like that should come from a teacher who failed to protect his students."
Tears welled in Nagato's and Konan's eyes.
Even after nearly killing him, Jiraiya did not blame them.
He only cared.
"If you are willing, tell me what happened to you," Jiraiya said gently.
"Yes." Nagato nodded and told him everything he had already told Naruto.
After listening, Jiraiya was silent for a long time before sighing.
"I never imagined so much would happen after I left. Even Yahiko…"
He closed his eyes.
"Maybe I should have only taught you how to survive in a chaotic world. I should not have passed on all those messy ideals of mine."
"The shinobi world has been soaked in blood and hatred since the Warring States era. Peace is too difficult. Chasing an empty ideal will always come with sacrifice."
"If it were not for me, Yahiko might still be alive. You might all be living somewhere peacefully."
Nagato shook his head.
"No, Jiraiya-sensei. The pursuit of peace was not only your ideal. It was ours as well. We grew up in war. We know its cruelty."
"I have the Rinnegan. The Sage of Six Paths' eyes. You placed hope in me, hoping I could change this world. Deep down, I believed it too."
"Arrogance, perhaps. After suffering, I called myself a god. I thought I had the duty and right to change the world through pain."
He paused and looked at Naruto.
"But after hearing Naruto's ideals…"
"I realized my path was still too naive. Pain and hatred never disappear. Suppression only breeds more of them."
"Only thorough reform, only a systematic and humane order, only a rule-based society can bring true hope."
Nagato's voice grew hoarse but steady.
"Sensei, your belief in mutual understanding was not wrong. What was wrong was trying to build towers on a sinking ship. The five great nations, divided villages, private ownership of tailed beasts. This fragmented structure itself feeds suspicion."
Konan stepped forward slightly. A paper butterfly landed silently on Yahiko's cold shoulder.
Nagato took a deep breath.
"Naruto saw the root of it. Division leads to competition. Competition breeds hatred. His path seems radical, but it cuts at the core."
"Unifying authority, sharing tailed beasts, establishing systems. This is not childish idealism. It is replacing the bones of this meat grinder of a world."
He stared at Jiraiya.
"When shinobi no longer die for borders, when tailed beasts are no longer weapons but foundations, when rules replace brute force, only then can mutual understanding take root."
"Naruto is not building tyranny. He is cutting off the vicious cycle…"
"An execution platform," Tsunade suddenly said.
She was leaning against the wall with arms crossed, her jaw tight under the lights.
She stared at Nagato.
"You see clearly, kid. But that scalpel will cut out everything rotten, including what you once believed in."
Nagato nodded.
"Because I walked the wrong path, I know reform cannot wait. The sins I committed, I will repay with my life if needed."
He turned to Jiraiya and bowed deeply, his back forming the same curve as when he first knelt in the rain years ago.
"Sensei, please allow me to be a stepping stone for this new era."